Chapter 10
“So they locked them inside the maze garden.”
As I followed the maid, I thought to myself.
There were many places in my castle that outsiders could never reach, and one of them was the garden hidden inside the maze.
Unless someone was an expert, they would wander endlessly through the enormous labyrinth.
But if they managed to reach the center, they would find a garden so beautiful they would never forget it.
Flower petals drifted on the breeze, occasionally landing on my dress.
When I arrived, I saw the people connected to the Blood Osbldarun family.
It would be good if Ahak had some familiar faces waiting for him.
I planned to weed out any spies first, then later assign only those who were truly loyal to him.
After all, his entire family had been wiped out. How lonely must he be?
I had never gone this far for someone I barely knew, but…
“So these are the survivors of the Blood Osbldarun massacre?”
There were two maids, one male servant, and four knights.
All of them were seriously injured, and the lone servant hadn’t stopped crying.
The knights clearly looked like they had barely escaped with their lives.
“Yes, my Lady.”
The EliteNet members bowed and stepped back.
Perhaps because of what they had been through, everyone from Blood Osbldarun kept their mouths tightly shut and looked at me with obvious suspicion.
All of them were kneeling, their hands tied behind their backs.
Ignoring the dirt on my dress, I knelt on one knee so that our eyes were level.
“…”
The two maids trembled violently.
As if they were freezing with a fever.
After hearing how brutally the House of Mist Katobletta had slaughtered an entire family, I could understand.
They said a single day was enough to wipe them all out.
Their ancestral castle had been destroyed, and every person in sight had been murdered.
These people had lost their masters and companions all at once.
One maid’s eyes were filled with despair and terror.
Yes.
That was the normal expression of someone who had survived a massacre.
“I brought you here because I have something to ask.”
“…”
“What kind of master was Ahak, the heir of your family?”
The moment I asked, one of the knights instinctively tensed and bared his teeth.
But when our eyes met, he clenched his jaw and held himself back.
One of Ahak’s personal knights.
I hadn’t thought it was such a difficult question, yet no one answered.
Well, that made sense.
Ahak was someone they wanted to protect, and in their eyes, I was probably just another person chasing after him for the reward.
Only cold silence filled the beautiful garden.
People may hate giving information… but they love correcting someone who’s wrong.
So I took advantage of human nature and changed my approach.
“So he escaped alone and disappeared. That must mean he’s a pretty cunning man, right? Or perhaps he always looked down on his servants?”
“That’s not true!”
The reaction came immediately.
The knight who had tensed earlier shouted before lowering his head under my gaze.
His voice trembled with emotion.
“Our lord treasured us more than anyone else. He wasn’t affectionate, but… we always knew he was sincere!”
“Young Master Ahak would never look down on servants. Do you know how moral he is?”
One of the maids added while still trembling.
The method worked well.
“Is Ahak weak?”
“Absolutely not! Our lord is strong. No matter the situation, his will never breaks—”
“I wasn’t asking about that. His ability.”
“…His swordsmanship is among the very best on the continent.”
Once again, it was the knight who answered without hesitation.
The information was satisfying enough, but his last statement bothered me.
“Unless you’re a frog living at the bottom of a well, you wouldn’t casually call someone the greatest swordsman on the continent.”
Yet all four knights simply straightened their backs and silently agreed.
Only then did I understand Ahak’s reputation among his followers.
“…”
“My Lady.”
“Yes?”
“He has awakened.”
Just as I was lost in thought, one of my knights delivered the news.
In my castle, Ahak was the only person important enough to be reported with nothing more than the words ‘He has awakened.’
Maybe I’ll postpone sorting out any spies until later.
I stood up and turned around without hesitation.
The hem of my dress spread neatly and fell gracefully.
“My Lady, what shall we do with them?”
“Keep them confined in the garden. Secretly assign doctors to treat their injuries.”
“At your command.”
Behind me, I heard the servant quietly sobbing.
I headed toward my bedroom.
Even entering my own bedroom in broad daylight still feels strange.
And seeing a strange man wearing a collar around his neck was an equally unusual experience.
“Everyone, leave.”
At my command, the EliteNet members disappeared without a word.
Judging from the soup splattered on a few of them, Ahak had probably thrown the bowl after suspecting it was poisoned.
“What exactly are you trying to do to me?”
“You need to eat if you want to recover.”
Ignoring his question, I held out a fresh bowl of soup.
“What kind of trick—!”
Crackle!
The moment Ahak lunged forward too far, the collar anchored to the wall released a burst of electricity.
It was like one of those anti-bark dog collars from Earth.
His body shuddered violently, and he bent over from the shock.
“…Take it off.”
“You’d be better off listening to me quietly.”
“Hah… Has Osbldarun truly fallen so low?”
He glared at me with the untamed eyes of a wild beast.
The Blood Osbldarun family had indeed been one of the Empire’s three greatest noble houses.
Which was why their destruction had shocked everyone.
…Unlike his servants, I don’t see any grief in his eyes.
Now that he had recovered enough to think clearly, he no longer called me a demon.
Of course.
Now he had no choice but to recognize who I was.
Retiana Stelshanin.
The woman from the House of Sun Stelshanin who walked her own path apart from the family.
Stelshanin and Osbldarun had been political enemies for generations.
Osbldarun led the Imperial faction.
Stelshanin belonged to the Noble faction.
Their political beliefs had always been completely opposed.
“I saved your life, and I don’t even get a word of thanks. How pitiful.”
I set the bowl on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed.
The man who had slept peacefully in this bed until waking now watched me with wary eyes.
“Saved me?”
Ahak laughed in disbelief.
“You only did it because I was useful. I know you.”
I remained silent.
But judging from his tone, he meant he knew me through my reputation in noble society.
He didn’t seem to remember our brief encounter at the Holy See after I killed the Pope.
“I remember you, Retiana Stelshanin. You rose from last place in your family’s succession competition to the top ranks overnight. The person I know has always been someone who hides her true intentions.”
I calmly met his gaze.
“So what are you really after? Why did you save me?”
“…”
“Did you covet my family’s influence? Or perhaps you’ve heard the legends surrounding Osbldarun blood.”
He’s using the same trick.
Watching him deliberately stir up anger, I realized something.
It’s the exact same psychological tactic I used on his survivors to gather information.
How interesting.
Because I already knew what he was doing, I didn’t fall for it.
“If my intentions are dirty, are you going to kill me?… Can you even kill me?”
Bang!
“What are you doing?!”
Kindness for kindness.
Hostility for hostility.
I had simply returned his provocation according to my own principles.
The real problem was something else.
I let my guard down…
Before I realized it, Ahak had closed the distance between us.
He grabbed my wrist and slammed me onto the bed.
Half kneeling over me, he pinned both my legs together with one powerful thigh.
Then—
Hummm…
The Black Blood Sword.
The legendary divine sword I had only heard about rested beneath my throat.
The technique of summoning a sword from thin air…
It was probably an ability unique to the Blood Osbldarun family.
If he had already possessed the sword physically, my servants would have confiscated it long ago.
So he had truly summoned it out of nowhere.
When did he summon it?
His swordsmanship might be far better than I had expected.
I had underestimated him because he always died in previous timelines.
It had been a long time since someone had overpowered me like this.
The razor-sharp blade reflected the chandelier’s light.
The man whose life I had saved stared down at me, now wearing a clean shirt instead of yesterday’s bloodstained clothes.
I can’t trust in your vow never to kill anymore… because I’ve already seen that dream.
In that dream, Ahak had been a tyrant.
Human lives had meant less to him than flies.
Everywhere he walked, the ground was soaked in blood.
The man known as the most moral noble possessed such terrifying cruelty deep inside.
“You definitely have an ulterior motive.”
His eyes burned with suspicion.
He seemed almost certain.
Well… I did have one.
I wanted to gather all seven Holy Relics and ask God to grant me immunity from all laws.
I had heard that only the truly moral could find the Holy Relics.
And I believed you were that moral man because you refused to kill even while your family was being exterminated.
But somewhere along the way…
I had stopped caring about that goal and had simply tried to protect Ahak.
I hid him from Mist Katobletta.
I kept his existence secret.
I even fought them for his sake.
Even though my head could have rolled at any moment, I never looked away from his eyes.
“Speak.”
Some people became frighteningly calm when they were truly angry.
Ahak seemed to be one of them.
“I see you’ve put a collar around my neck.”
“…”
“Were you planning to humiliate me?”
“…”
“Or perhaps… you intended to wipe out the Osbldarun bloodline in the cruelest possible way?”
“…”
“My family’s regenerative blood? Is that what you want? What is it?”
“…”
“Answer me!”
His voice rose as if he were determined to uncover my true intentions.
His deep voice wasn’t loud enough to hurt my ears, but it vibrated heavily in his throat.
The last thing he remembered was collapsing while fleeing from the destruction of his family.
His distrust was understandable.
He can’t trust anyone right now.
The gleaming blade remained at my throat.
His right hand gripped the hilt.
His left hand steadied the blade.
Like a growling beast, he threatened my life from inches away.
But I could clearly see the opening in his heart.
“I wanted to save you…”
“What?”
Perhaps because the words escaped unexpectedly, my voice sounded incredibly soft.
Looking straight into Ahak’s pink eyes with complete sincerity, I continued,
“I wanted to protect you… from Katobletta.”
“…”
When someone is consumed by suspicion, the best answer is simple honesty.
For a brief moment, Ahak looked genuinely shaken by the unguarded sincerity in my eyes.
